Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Wanted (2008)

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Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-19-2008, 04:20 AM:

Interesting movie. I don't want to give anything away, but this is the first Matrix-type movie that has worked since...well, The Matrix. (And no I do NOT consider the Matrix sequels to be worth anything other than a waste of time.)

I will just leave it at that, but suffice to say I enjoyed it.

4 out of 5

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 06-19-2008, 01:51 PM:

Darn non-disclosure agreements [Razz]

Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 06-19-2008, 03:06 PM:

No studio will ever get pissy about a non-spoiler review with a good rating.

Posted by Todd McCracken (Member # 4718) on 06-19-2008, 03:30 PM:

Unfortunately being in distribution we have a gag order complete with "no posting on the internet" clause. However I agree completely with your star rating [Smile]

Posted by Ben Goodman (Member # 4770) on 06-28-2008, 12:36 AM:

Great action, great acting, decent plot, fun twists. This is what summer movies are all about.

4/5.

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 06-28-2008, 06:27 AM:

This is another one of those that I'm not sure about. I liked the gun play and the idea. I don't think it had great acting, but I like McAvoy playing a badass. I didn't think the plot was great, nothing we havn't seen in a million other action movies. Angelina looked good as always, nice shot of her ass. Over all I would say this is a watch once but not a buy.

3/5 [thumbsup]

Posted by Lyle Romer (Member # 1266) on 06-28-2008, 08:23 PM:

I thought this movie was really good. It was over the top but fun and had a pretty original concept. It's kind of like The Matrix meets Batman Begins. It had a good plot with some cool twists and visually it was very well done.

4 out of 5

Posted by Mike Schindler (Member # 1309) on 06-29-2008, 03:28 PM:

What I found to be most entertaining about this movie was that most of the film was shot in locations that I am very familiar with. Probably more than any other movie, WANTED utilized the areas of Chicago that I go to most often. It's one thing to look and say, "Hey, that's Lake and Wabash!" But the first car chase in the parking lot outside of the grocery store was shot at Cermak Plaza, which was formerly home to the Car-Kabob, made famous by WAYNE'S WORLD (you can even see it briefly in one shot). I'm there at least a couple times a week.

Aside from that, I wasn't very impressed. The action sequences are fairly well made, and the movie is fun enough to watch. But the writing was incredibly bad.

[ 06-29-2008, 07:07 PM: Message edited by: Mike Schindler ]

Posted by Robert Crabtree (Member # 4795) on 07-01-2008, 12:04 AM:

I quite liked the director's previous work on Night Watch and Day Watch, and felt that there were plenty of similarities with Wanted, particularly the quality of the visuals, the guiding hand of destiny, and underground organizations fighting to preserve a "balance". The Exterminator, btw, is played by Konstantin Khabensky, the lead from the Night Watch franchise (which will end with Last Watch).

I call it a 4 of 5 stars, and a fairly impressive English-language debut for director Timur Bekmambetov. Anyone who gets James McAvoy hot and sweaty is aces in my book [Big Grin]

Posted by Sam Graham (Member # 2889) on 07-04-2008, 05:11 PM:

CINEMA: 13th Avenue Warren, Wichita, KS
AUDITORIUM: 11
PRESENTATION: 35mm/Dolby Digital/THX
PRESENTATION PROBLEMS: None [Cool]

RATING: Two stars (out of four)

THE PLOT: Flippy bullets! Wackiness ensues

About all I can get motivated to say is...It's an incredibly stupid script with some great action sequences. It was fun, I guess, but I'm betting by the time the DVD hits stores, I'll actually have to look up the synopsis to remember what it was.

Morgan Freeman's last two words at the end pretty much say it all.

Posted by Jaime Tuzzio (Member # 4760) on 07-05-2008, 04:19 AM:

I saw this movie just over 24 hours ago and I cannot for the life of me recall what those two words were. I guess that tells you the impact it had on me.

It was fun, but I don't need to see it again.

Posted by David Stambaugh (Member # 1102) on 07-06-2008, 08:07 PM:

Today at Regal 15 in Eugene, #14, 35mm. Xlnt presentation, very steady and sharp image, really looked and sounded good. [Cool]

The movie rates very highly with me for its eye candy and well-done action sequences. The CGI is mostly very good, and the story is sort of an interesting twist on The Matrix. So why didn't I like it more? I don't know.

I'll give it 2.75 out of 5. Can't strongly recommend it but didn't hate it either.

Posted by Jack Theakston (Member # 4484) on 07-07-2008, 02:21 PM:

Fun, mindless entertainment.

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-09-2008, 04:58 AM:

..be kinda tough to 'shoot the wings off of a fly...' - with a .45

Posted by Paul Mayer (Member # 355) on 07-09-2008, 03:50 PM:

Easy! Just put the bullet close by the fly and let the wake turbulence strip the wings off the little bastard. If you can't do that you don't need to carrying around a .45 or any other handgun for that matter. [Big Grin]

Posted by Tom Mundell (Member # 4555) on 07-09-2008, 10:07 PM:

Saw this this past weekend at Regal Majestic 20 in cinema 7; overall I didn't like this one much. Wasn't too bad to sit through, but not as good as I had hoped. Definitely some good action scenes though. I'd say 5/10.

Posted by John Lasher (Member # 968) on 07-11-2008, 11:49 PM:

Cinemark Movies 10, Newport, DE, Auditorium 4, DTS

Not enough killing.

OK Presentation. Kept dropping to analog for some reason during trailers, but stayed in for the feature.

COME ON, Cinemark, a common-width screen in one of your 2 largest houses, in a complex that seems partial to common-height... tsk, tsk.

Base side scratch lasting for about 20 seconds at one point.

[ 07-13-2008, 12:10 AM: Message edited by: John Lasher ]

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 07-28-2008, 03:48 AM:

Enjoyable movie, far more entertaining than useless tripe like "There Will Be Blood". You have the typical training scenes which take up a large portion of movies like this which kind of does kill the replay value a bit. As a gun-loving American, all I want to see are people getting shot in the face from start to finish for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I don't think I have ever seen the main actor before, maybe he is from Scrubs or something? This one would be great to rent or buy for cheap on Blu-ray... definitely not DVD. Only homeless people enjoy DVD.

Posted by Michael Barry (Member # 237) on 08-01-2008, 08:52 AM:

I pretty much loved this for what it was.

Tight pacing, crazy hair-raising action sequences and a script that makes sense within the structure of the movie-world in which this was set, with only one or two 'huh?' moments.

This Russian director is a fantastic talent and sure knows how to make a movie that keeps you riveted from the first frame to the last. This certainly cannot be said of all filmmakers out there. I love that 'this director knows what he's doing' feeling from watching movies like this.

Awesome!!! [thumbsup]

Posted by Pravin Ratnam (Member # 1417) on 08-01-2008, 07:38 PM:

I enjoyed the movie for what it was - a fun action movie. james Macavoy is always fun to watch even if his american accent seemed very forced in the narration. Maybe they should have let him keep his natural accent. Jolie was fun too but she got way too damn thin. Nice to see a movie based on a comic book that is not widely read and not based on some tired old costume.

Posted by Stu Jamieson (Member # 4626) on 08-04-2008, 07:10 AM:

Wanted begins with a written prologue regarding a 1000 year old group of weavers who form an assassination organisation. Okay then, clearly we are not meant to be taking this story seriously! With this ground rule set, the film launches into an action offensive and, true to director Timur Bekmambetov's style, physical laws are sacrificed on the alter of outrageously fun entertainment. On this score, the film succeeds.

Tying an assassination group to a bunch of mediaeval weavers is a curious choice but it's clear where the story writer is going with it. The weavers' loom is an allegory for the weaving of the strands of time, an analogy of the way in which our lives are intricately woven together. This concept is not new. The idea was previously explored in the early 90's Loom, a LucasArts adventure game about a society of exiled weavers who discover that their revered loom is capable of influencing reality. In the context of the video game the idea works. The beauty and artisanship of the weavers' craft marries effortlessly with the magic and music which forms the core of the story; there's a natural synergy between these three artistic elements. Wanted's shotgun wedding between a group of fine craftsmen and a fraternity of brutal killers, on the other hand, is completely incongruous and therefore never believable.

But this is of minor consequence as the film never aspires to be anything more than an outrageous action flick. Any film which includes such impossible elements as bending bullet trajectories, feats of superhuman strength and agility, and coaxing the word "motherfucker" from the lips of Morgan Freeman is clearly just having a bit of fun and not begging to be taken seriously. Even when the hero breaks the fourth wall and issues a verbal life challenge directly to the audience at the films end, it comes across as more cheeky than intentionally thought provoking. Admittedly, though, the movie does blow its load in its first half, the action being less spectacular in the second.

Bekmambetov is a much better visualist than a storyteller and it's fair to say that Wanted plays to his strengths. As a result, this film demands a large box of popcorn for maximum enjoyment.

7.5 out of 10

Posted by Damien Taylor (Member # 4255) on 08-04-2008, 09:13 AM:

The movie stood up ok in its own right, but it had nothing on the comics, which are amazing. I wouldn't recommend reading the comics before seeing the movie, unless you want to be disappointed yet again by Hollywood's lack of balls to do something different.